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Ninth US telecom firm breached in Chinese hack: US
Taipei Times ^ | December 27, 2024

Posted on 12/28/2024 8:11:01 PM PST by lasereye

A ninth US telecom firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and telephone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said on Friday.

Officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden this month said that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.

US Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger on Friday told reporters that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.

The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication.

The hackers compromised the networks of telecoms to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of what officials have said is a limited number of individuals. Although the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior US government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose communications were accessed.

Neuberger said that officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but that a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area.

Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said.

The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.”

(Excerpt) Read more at taipeitimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; China; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chicoms; china; espionage; hack; hacking; phones; salttyphoon; spying; telecoms
The Chinese could blackmail people if they learned something damaging. Hopefully nobody in the incoming Trump admin was hacked.
1 posted on 12/28/2024 8:11:01 PM PST by lasereye
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To: lasereye

“With friends like these....”
Oh joy, with the Chinese we get both!


2 posted on 12/28/2024 8:15:04 PM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV group-think!)
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To: lasereye
The Chinese could blackmail people if they learned something damaging. Hopefully nobody in the incoming Trump admin was hacked.

Then they should hack the fbi.

3 posted on 12/28/2024 8:40:05 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: lasereye

25% tariffs on all CHN goods. Tax the hacks!


4 posted on 12/28/2024 9:00:15 PM PST by Salvavida (NS)
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To: Salvavida

They seem to know how to exploit the chinks in our security.


5 posted on 12/28/2024 9:11:12 PM PST by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: lightman
They seem to know how to exploit the chinks in our security.

Puts a new slant on the subject.

6 posted on 12/28/2024 9:16:40 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: lasereye

The term “hack”. Even a tie-in to “drudge.”

Short for “hackney cab,” which referred to a carriage for hire drawn by a hackney, or an ordinary horse. .

The word “hackney” evolved to mean “horse for hire,” and then to mean a “drudge” or “prostitute” — leading to the use of “hack” to mean “writer for hire,” and the word “hackneyed,” which means cliche-ridden. The use of “hacker” to refer to a computer user dates back to the mid-1970s.


7 posted on 12/28/2024 9:21:12 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: frank ballenger

Well of course they do.
We stupidly allow them full access to our universities and tech.
Even if the students never INTENDED to be spies they have family for the CCP to threaten.


8 posted on 12/28/2024 9:41:53 PM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV group-think!)
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To: lasereye

Some reason you or they couldn’t list the affected telecoms?


9 posted on 12/28/2024 10:26:01 PM PST by moonhawk (Jeffrey Epstein did't kill himself; George Floyd did.)
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To: moonhawk

I don’t think they’ve disclosed that.


10 posted on 12/28/2024 11:11:04 PM PST by lasereye
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To: lightman

11 posted on 12/28/2024 11:29:35 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: logi_cal869
Then they should hack the fbi.

Dollars to donuts the Chinese hacked the FBI's backdoor into the devices.

If so, a typical own-goal by the Fabulous Bunch of Incompetents.

12 posted on 12/29/2024 12:07:04 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: All

It should be considered an act of war, no different really from agents of a foreign power coming into the country and blowing up a dam or a power station. No need for instant retaliation, it would need to be carefully documented who was poking around and proof established of their connections to foreign governments, if it’s just private citizens engaging in criminal conduct, ask that government to deal with them and sanctions follow if they don’t co-operate with in a reasonable period.


13 posted on 12/29/2024 2:10:08 AM PST by Peter ODonnell (For two countries with so many lawyers, there ain't much justice in Canada or America (yet))
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To: frank ballenger
Puts a new slant on the subject.

Aye.

14 posted on 12/29/2024 3:41:50 AM PST by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: lasereye

With security like this, it’s amazing we’re still standing....The DHS CISA need some serious housecleaning - in fact the DHS is as useless as a Biden/Sessions/Harris and needs to be put in the soup lines...


15 posted on 12/29/2024 5:27:58 AM PST by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: lasereye

Thanks, free traitors.


16 posted on 12/29/2024 5:50:12 AM PST by TwelveOfTwenty (Prayers for the US and President Trump)
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To: lasereye

No where can I find the list of companies. Why are they not listed?


17 posted on 12/29/2024 10:52:36 AM PST by Fungi
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To: Fungi

I don’t think there is a public list. I think the government is keeping it secret.


18 posted on 12/29/2024 11:56:23 AM PST by lasereye
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To: lasereye

OK, thanks.


19 posted on 12/29/2024 2:58:40 PM PST by moonhawk (Jeffrey Epstein did't kill himself; George Floyd did.)
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